The “MARS” pistols made in Czechoslovakia began with the “Slavia” line, designed by one Antonin Vilímec in 1920 or 1921. Those were basically simple copies of the vest-pocket Browning pistols, and were made until 1935. At that point the factory (shop?) was acquired by the Kohout & Spol company, which renamed them “Mars” and added a 7.65mm gun to the lineup. The 7.65mm was more a copy of the FN 1910, with its mainspring wrapped around the barrel. It is much like a Ruby in handling; heavy and inelegant, but functional. Production appears to have been about 3,800 between their introduction in 1937 and the end of production in 1947, with a gap from October 1942 until the end of World War Two. The company made pistol for the commercial market through 1942, but was shut down when it refused to produce guns for the German military.

Thanks to Ozark Machine Gun for loaning me this pistol - check out his cool machine gun rental range in Missouri!